Central Staff News

This month, Dallas ISD is shining the spotlight on our Superhero Principals and the incredible “superpowers” they use every day to make a difference in our schools. We invite students and team members to join the celebration by submitting photos of their principals in action. Each photo should highlight how the principal demonstrates his or her superpower in one (or more) of the district’s three priorities:

• Student Achievement (e.g., leading a data meeting, celebrating growth)
• Quality of Instruction (e.g., walking classrooms, coaching teachers)
• Climate & Culture (e.g., greeting families, celebrating students, dismissal duty) 

Let’s show our principals the appreciation they deserve and recognize the heroic impact they have on our school communities by submitting a photo using this form.  

Photo Requirements:

• Your principal must be clearly visible
• Candid moments are preferred
• Photo must be from this school year (2025-26)

When submitting the photo, make sure you include the principal’s name and campus and a short explanation of the superpower as well as what is happening in the photo. 

The winner will be announced at the principals meeting on Oct. 22.

When Silvia Fields started working as a custodian 14 years ago, the work was a lot different than it is now at the new Henry W. Longfellow Career Exploration Academy building where she is head facility supervisor. It is even different than when she came to work in Dallas ISD six years ago.

“It’s a much larger building, of course,” she said of the school that opened this fall. “But all operations now are computerized and work off of touch screens. There has been a lot of training with the Bond people to learn how to operate the school.”

As National School Custodian Day is celebrated today, Oct. 2, the roles of custodians like Fields in schools across the district have been expanding and adjusting to new technologies for air conditioning, heating, mechanical rooms, and other essential operations that keep the school running day-to-day. At the same time, they continue to be in charge of making sure hallways and classrooms are clean and sanitized and that the school has a safe and welcoming environment.

“It’s a learning process and it has its challenges, but in some ways it’s easier than the old building because it was falling apart,” she said.

Fields, who manages a staff of three divided into day and evening shifts, does more than that.

“We play a role in student success,” she said. “We are there for students because we have a lot of interaction with them. If they need help with something, we help. Especially now, they ask for help finding where to go, so we show them around.”

Because custodians also work when the school holds parent events, they are a resource for parents and the parent organizations. And they work closely with other school team members to make sure that their needs are met, cleaning spills, moving furniture, opening doors, etc.

She regrets that the new building means she doesn’t get to interact with people as much as she did in the old facility, which was smaller, but she is confident that the new skills she is learning will help her continue to progress in her career. She also likes that in the new building, she has her own office, she said.

“I would tell other custodians that they need to keep learning new things and taking on challenges so they can move up,” she said. “This job offers big opportunities and has its benefits if you take advantage of them.”

The Benefits Department will start “Tuesday Talks: Achieving Your Retirement Goals” for the school year beginning Oct. 7. This initiative provides district employees with essential knowledge and resources to prepare for a successful and secure retirement.

 Navigating the retirement process can be a challenging task, and the HCM Benefits Department is here to help. On select Tuesdays each month, there will be a variety of retirement-focused events to cater to different learning preferences and schedules. The program will include: 

• Virtual seminars: Convenient online sessions providing employees with information and resources for retirement.
• In-person seminars: Interactive face-to-face sessions providing employees with information and resources for retirement.
• Lunch and Learns with Trusted Capitol Group (TCG): Informative lunchtime sessions providing guidance on Social Security, TRS benefits, retirement savings, and more
• Special Seminar with Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS): A comprehensive seminar on Oct. 21, featuring retirement insights from TRS.

Seminars will cover a range of critical topics to help employees prepare for retirement, including but not limited to: 

• Steps to Retirement: Detailed guidance on the essential steps to take as you approach retirement.
• Retirement Service Award: Information on how to receive payment for local days accumulated.
• Retirement Savings Accounts: Insights on different types of retirement accounts and how to maximize retirement savings.
• Eligibility and More: Understanding the criteria for retirement benefits and other important considerations.

Due to limited space, we strongly encourage all employees to register for events as soon as possible to secure their spot. Visit the registration link here: Retirement Registration. For more information email retirement@dallasisd.org. For a list of all events and dates, download Retirement Events and Dates.

Are you focused, fast, flexible, and friendly in your interactions with colleagues, students and the public? If so, you are already embracing the district’s culture and good customer service practices, which will be recognized next week during National Customer Service Week. 

The Core 4—the district’s culture tenets—are rooted in practices that exemplify the best customer service and the best ways to interact with one another and the public. Keeping each one of these tenets at the forefront of everything we do helps us keep focus on being a premier district in Texas and in the nation. 

Focused—We Transform Student Lives. These are the team members who make decisions that are intentional and grounded in the needs of students and who are great at consistently and effectively implementing the necessary support to ensure the social, emotional and academic needs of students and families are met.  

Fast—Urgency for All. These are the team members who return and deliver messages within 24 hours during normal business hours, and are wonderful at consistently responding in a timely manner to requests between students, families, and team members.

Flexible–We Strive for the Yes. These are our team members who do whatever it takes to meet the needs of our students, families, and other team members. They eliminate barriers and embrace innovative problem-solving.

Friendly–Make Memorable Moments. These are the team members who build respectful relationships that are grounded in communication, embrace the positive and expect the best of each other. 

Recognizing those who best exemplify these tenets if part of the Core 4 experience. If you have team members who live by these tenets, take the time during next week to recognize them by printing the card of the tenet they best exemplify with a note of appreciation. 

October is National Principals Month, and The Beat is sharing profiles of some of Dallas ISD’s outstanding principals to recognize the work they do in leading their schools and students to success.

On a fall Monday last year, Jason Jewell’s morning was going as usual when a call from Laura Garza, regional director, changed everything for him and for the school he would end up leading.

Jewell was serving as assistant principal at Seagoville High School when he was told to report to W.A. Blair Elementary School as interim principal. In the year that Jewell led it, the school went from an F to a B rating. 

Jewell wasn’t sure what awaited him at Blair, but the first thing he did, he said, was call his wife for a ride to return home to change into a business suit. Shortly after, he stood before the staff at Blair, introducing himself. 

“The staff was excited for a change,” Jewell said. “They were very receptive, and over the next few weeks, we really got to know each other.”

When Jewell joined Blair, the school was F rated, and he wasn’t just concerned about the school’s performance; he was also new to working with elementary-aged students. A Kentucky native, Jewell moved to Dallas to join Teach for America. He started as a ninth-grade geography teacher at H. Grady Spruce High School before becoming an assistant principal at W.W. Samuell High School, where he ran the Early College Program. By the time Garza called, Jewell was completing the residency component of the district’s Principal Residency Program at Seagoville.

Jewell said that adjusting to his role as Blair’s interim principal was challenging, especially since the school year was already a few months in.

“It was a challenge when we think about some of the ways that we interact with elementary-aged students and some of the curriculum differences, especially when I got here in October,” he said. “And I think that as an interim, I had to send the message that we were all in this together, and that this is my ship now, too.”

Jewell began by reminding teachers and other team members that the narrative about Blair was not true to the school’s identity. To restore its former image, he said, they had to tackle their goals strategically.

“I remember in January, our professional development was focused on getting students to hit their growth goals. We set a target for them that was actually 10 points above their state goal,” Jewell said. “That way, if they didn’t meet their personal goal, they still met the state and district goals. Breaking it down and really focusing on those conversations with our teachers was a critical point.”

Jewell made it clear no one was immune to the hard work that awaited them, but he also made sure to provide significant support. To aid teacher preparation, he created a
“push-in” schedule for extended planning periods and implemented more coaching for newer teachers. He also filled several long-vacant positions and established partnerships with organizations, including United to Learn, to secure more professional development opportunities.

“We ask more of our third-grade to fifth-grade teachers right now, so we need to give them additional support and time to implement feedback, analyze work samples, and do all of the things that take extra time. We want to give them that time back so they feel rejuvenated and can come in with the resources they need, rather than having to spend several hours at night working,” Jewell said. 

Jewell and his assistant principal also jumped in by taking classes to teach—math and third-grade respectively. Jewell also assessed the particular areas that students struggled with and embraced the use of i-Ready “to give those students the attention that they need to really meet their goals,” Jewell said.

When hiring, Jewell was transparent with teachers about the challenge ahead. He informed them that Blair was an F-rated school and that the job would require significantly more effort than a typical position.

“Every interview I had all of the year coming into this year, I said, ‘Hey, we’re an F-ready campus. We are all hands on deck.’ I was upfront: ‘This is the help I need. If that’s the help you want to give, then you’re more than welcome to come,’” he said.

Jewell hired new teachers he believed showed great potential for growth and emphasized literacy in the classroom, which led to the school’s rapid success, moving it from an F to a B in less than a year.

“If our students read better, they perform better in science, in math, social studies, everything across the board. It’s also the way that we build critical thinkers and leaders in our society,” he said.

To continue the push towards greater literacy at Blair, Jewell hired the school’s first librarian last year, encourages parents to read to their children at least 10 minutes per night, and plans to install a book vending machine. The goal is to have every student reading at grade level, he said. 

Thinking of his own children, one of whom attends Blair, Jewell wonders whether early reading correlates with an interest in learning.

“I see how quickly my sons gravitate to books and the love they have for them. That makes me think about the correlation for their love for learning—and whether reading to kids more often makes them more interested in the learning process later on,” he said.

Jewell said that Blair’s B-rating was a collective effort from district leadership, teachers, other team members, and even parents who rallied behind the school. 

“I get to be one of the loudest people that gets to shout about Blair and celebrate Blair, but I was not alone,” he said.

While Jewell’s long-term vision is to elevate Blair to an A-rated campus and eventually to a National Blue Ribbon School, he ultimately wants his legacy to be defined by the opportunities he can create for his students.

In just four years since reopening as an elementary school, H.S Thompson STEAM Academy received its first rating from the Texas Education Agency, a hard-earned B that reflects years of dedication from team members, students, and the community.  

The elementary school opened in 2022 on the site of the former H.S. Thompson Learning Center, which closed in 2012 and was demolished.

Jennifer Atkins, the school’s principal, has served in South Dallas since the start of her career with Dallas ISD and says the area has become home. When she took on leadership at Thompson, she brought strategies such as community building and academic retention that had proven successful at other schools in the Lincoln-Madison vertical team.

Atkins’ strategy also consists of sustaining student enrollment, creating legacy students. This ensures they receive a quality education and fosters family involvement. She encourages teachers to collaborate across grade levels, using student data to identify learning gaps and foster a campus-wide growth mindset. Her leadership has been a driving force in shaping a culture of success.  

“Principal Atkins leads by example,” said Sheila Henry, assistant principal. “She’s very hands-on with everything that we do on the campus and is always visible. She never asks anyone to do something that she isn’t willing to do herself as an educator.” 

According to Rockell Stewart, executive director of the Lincoln-Madison vertical team, Atkins has gone above and beyond the call to align H.S. Thompson academically with the other B-rated schools in the vertical team. 

“It is my goal to make sure that our children succeed because we can achieve anything. It is my purpose to motivate our students,” Atkins said. 

Across every grade level, the STEAM Academy encourages both campuswide and classroom celebrations, big and small. From ice cream socials and classroom parties to carts filled with snacks for the entire school, staff make it a priority to ensure students are valued and recognized each day.  

Each grade level at Thompson belongs to a separate house, which adds to the energy and camaraderie of the school. This house system boosts student morale and personalizes students’ involvement in their own learning, school leaders said.  

“Our students at Thompson know their goals,” said Henry. “They know the end goal and where they want to be. So each day, students are pushing themselves to reach that goal. They know what it takes to get there.” 

This passion for learning also stretches across campuses and generations through the Aspiring Teachers Program, a collaboration with Lincoln High School for students who plan to pursue careers in education.  

Each week, select high school students visit H.S. Thompson to read and teach language arts to elementary students. This opportunity gives them real-world classroom experience and allows the vertical team to begin shaping the next generation of teachers in the community even before they graduate.  

“I think students are getting a real opportunity to see what the craft is all about and what it takes to make a difference in students’ lives,” said Henry. “My high school teacher motivated me to want to be a teacher. With high school students coming over and gaining experience from real educators, they are seeing the need for teachers, and that makes a difference.” 

Like other elementary schools in the vertical team, the STEAM academy lays an early foundation for success and helps the team work toward its long-term expectation of 100% graduation.

With a history of supportive alumni and active community partners, Atkins said Thompson is here to stay. 

“H.S. Thompson is B-rated today, with an A on the way,” said Henry, proudly repeating the school mantra as a promise of what’s to come.  

They get to the buildings early and often stay late. They make sure classrooms, hallways, auditoriums, and cafeterias are clean, safe and functional. And they often take the time to share with students and team members an encouraging word. On Thursday, Oct. 2, take a moment to thank your custodians for all they do. 

National Custodian Appreciation Day has been marked to show appreciation for all the things seen and unseen that custodians do every day to make sure school buildings are ready for learning to take place. Below are a few suggestions on how to recognize their contributions. 

Sign a banner

Create a big banner full of notes from students and team members and hang it near where they clock in so they are sure to see it and know how much they are appreciated. 

Give them a social media shout-out

Take their picture and maybe even get a few fun facts about each custodian or show them doing what they do best, helping students succeed. 

Do a thank you walk-through

Have students and team members line the halls to cheer their custodians as they walk through. Maybe some high fives are in order. 

Decorate their door/hallway

Have students write positive messages or drawings and tape them to the custodian’s office door and along the hallway. Make sure someone other than the custodian takes them down at the end of the week to put them in a folder. 

Create a certificate

Print a certificate they can hang on their wall to celebrate how much students and team members appreciate them. 

Get the PTA involved

Ask your parent organization if they can put together breakfast or lunch for the custodians to thank them for all their work. 

Dallas ISD has one of the largest populations of families whose home language is not English, and Translation Services interpreters and translators are there to bridge the language gap between home and school.

“We are the largest program in the state of Texas,” said Director Adriana Saucedo. The main task of the department’s team members is to provide interpretation services during special education meetings with parents, workshops, annual individual student meetings, consent meetings, and evaluations. Interpreters also assist families with providing the information during general parent meetings, workshops, and events in a language they understand. 

International Translation Day on Sept. 30 recognizes the task translators and interpreters perform in making communication and understanding possible among many cultures and people. And that task is even more crucial in Dallas ISD where about 22,000 parents benefitted from the services last school year, Saucedo said. 

“This means that the parents who don’t speak English are on equal footing, and the more than 70,000 students whose families speak other languages are not left in the dark,” she said. “If a parent is not able to understand the information that the school is providing, the student is affected because they might miss opportunities or resources. We make sure that they have access to that information.”

Translation Services provided interpretation services in more than 6,350 meetings last year. The department also translated almost 1.2 million words in more than 7,000 pages of text whether in flyers, letters to parents, documents, handbooks, or other materials that were shared with the community. 

The department also has an Interpreter Hotline through which they provided interpretation services on almost 13,400 calls last year. The hotline is used by nurses, teachers, principals, counselors and other school team members for more immediate communication with parents. They are connected via a conference call with the interpreter, who then relays the information in the respective language. 

Saucedo knows first hand what a difference it can make for parents to have access to information about educational opportunities for their children. A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, she had to navigate the magnet program application process on her own, even in elementary school, because her mother, a Spanish speaker, did not have access to the necessary information.

“My mom supported me and would have taken some of that responsibility off of me if she had been informed of it in her language,” she said. “Fortunately, we have come a long way in reducing the opportunity gap. In the hierarchy of needs, having a roof over your head, clothing, food to eat, safety are all essential, but language is too, especially when communication opens doors for these students.”

Yolanda Cantu, a third-grade math teacher at Whitney Young Jr. Elementary School, has been set to retire several times, only to be pulled back every time. When she came back from retirement the last time, the 41-year veteran pledged not to make any more attempts until her school earned an A rating.  

Cantu is now set to retire at the end of this academic year since she kept her promise to Principal Shabranda Mathis that she would not leave until they reached that A rating, which the school received for the 2024-2025 school year.

Cantu, a member of the first graduating class at Skyline High School, worked in the mid-1970s as a bilingual geriatric nurse at Parkland Hospital before becoming a teacher. Nursing was one of Cantu’s dream jobs, but it ended up being too emotional for her to stay in the profession long term. 

“I asked myself, ‘Do I want to stay in nursing?’ I was going to funerals, that’s how attached I’d get to my patients,” she said. “I remember I called my brother who was a doctor, and I said, ‘I think I want to go into bilingual education.’” 

Her brother tried to persuade her to stay, saying bilingual nurses were in demand, but she was determined to pursue teaching, her other dream job.

Cantu got a degree in elementary education with a bilingual endorsement at the former East Texas State University. Although bilingual education, a new discipline at the time, was not regarded highly then, she was not discouraged, she said. 

“I told myself I was going to teach my kids what they need to learn in their first language, and then we worked on the second language,” she said. “It was truly bilingual education.”

Once she graduated, Cantu began teaching math at James Hogg Elementary School, now New Tech Elementary School, in the early ’80s. She stayed for seven years before transferring to Leila P. Cowart Elementary School, followed by C.A. Tatum Jr., Annie Webb Blanton, and William Lipscomb elementary schools.

Then the attempts at retirement began. 

“I wanted to retire from Tatum in 2015, but Umoja Turner, who was then principal of William A. Blair Elementary School, called me and told me he needed me,” she said. “He said I had a few years left, and that he had an opening for a bilingual teacher.”

Cantu taught second-grade math at Blair for two years and, at last, she retired.

“My friend Shabranda Mathis became assistant principal at Hector P. Garcia Middle School the same year I retired, and she called me in June, ‘Can you please come and help me out?’” Cantu said. 

At first she refused, because she had never taught middle school, but Mathis insisted, calling her later in the summer. When Cantu said she could not work full-time since she had already retired, Mathis offered her part-time work. 

Mathis pulled at Cantu’s heartstrings, Cantu said, and she relented.  

“I went, and I loved it,” Cantu said. “I remember telling my husband that I missed my calling when I spent all those years teaching elementary school. I just loved teaching middle school.”

Under Cantu’s guidance, most of the eight-graders at Garcia who had never passed the STAAR test did.

“We had seven, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but we worked hard with them. It was different but fulfilling,” she said.

Then when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Cantu said she took a break from teaching to protect herself and her family. Thinking she had at long last retired, she settled into her new life. 

Mathis called again. 

“She called me saying she needed help at Whitney Young,” Cantu said. “It was an F school, and she wanted me there with her.” 

This time, Cantu didn’t think twice and told Mathis she would stay a year. She is now going on her fourth year of teaching sixth-grade math, promising Mathis she would not retire until the school raised its rating to an A.

Now that Young obtained an A-rating, Cantu joked with Mathis, ‘“I may stay just to see if we can maintain an A. I know we will.”

In the four decades she has been working with the district, Cantu said bilingual students are some of the most cariñosos—affectionate. She believes that bilingual education is more important than ever before, and she often reminds her students of it.

“Jobs for bilingual people open up so much more, and this is what I try to tell my students: don’t forget your first language because the possibilities are endless,” she said.

Cantu said she maintains contact with former students, keeping track of their lives and accomplishments. Alvaro R., a student Cantu taught at Lipscomb in the 1980s, left a lasting mark on her.

“Alvaro was abused as a child,” she said. “His dad beat him so hard it left him blind.” Cantu said. After fleeing abuse in Mexico with his mother and siblings, Alvaro discovered a latent talent for the piano at his school. 

“We had a piano at Lipscomb, and Alvaro had me take him to it,” Cantu said. “The piano teacher was there, and she played Alvaro a melody, and he picked it up right away. He learned to play by ear.”

What Cantu remembers most is that Alvaro never felt sorry for himself, and his example continues to inspire her to work hard. She often shares the story with her students. 

“I tell my kids that if Alvaro can do it, anybody can do it. I don’t want to know they just showed up. I want them to give me their all–80 and above,” she said.

Like other South Dallas leaders, music educator Carolyn Donnell once walked the halls of the schools she later served, honoring African American music throughout her 48-year career in Dallas ISD. 

Donnell said her love for music always pushed her to strive to be the best even in her early years as a young musician. She has shared this passion with her students for the past seven years at Paul L. Dunbar Learning Center, where she teaches choral music and manages the Biller Kerl Roberts Choir, which combines students from both Dunbar and Charles Rice Learning Center. 

And now, her legacy will live on as one of the composers of a school song performed by Dunbar choral students amid recent celebrations of the B rating results across the Lincoln-Madison vertical team. The song is the voice of hope, unity and achievement in the schools and the community, where Donnell grew up. 

A graduate of Lincoln High School, Donnell began playing the piano at 8 years old, which set her on the path to becoming a multi-instrumentalist. 

“Growing up, my parents didn’t always have the money to pay for my lessons, but my first music teacher taught me anyway,” she said. “Now when I teach piano, I’m not doing it to become wealthy or to make extra money. I am giving back because my teacher gave back to me.”  

By the time she reached high school, Donnell was first-chair saxophonist in the concert band at Lincoln High School and later joined the jazz band. This experience propelled her to eventually learn the flute, clarinet, and xylophone.  

At just 13, Donnell became a church pianist at New Friendship Baptist Church, a role she still holds after 40 years. This experience earned her a scholarship to Texas Southern University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in music. Donnell is also one of the founding members of the university’s renowned Ocean of Soul marching band, which was formed with the appointment of a new band director during her time as a student. 

Between her years as a music teacher, Donnell also fulfilled her desire to teach math, receiving degrees in both math and science from The University of Texas at Dallas and Paul Quinn College. 

Donnell’s excellence in the classroom and dedication to Dallas ISD students has been recognized several times during her career. She was named Teacher of the Year at Umphrey Lee in 2001-2002 and was recognized again as the 2023-2024 Campus Teacher of the Year at Dunbar.  

Her influence as a music educator extends well beyond the classroom. In 2009, Donnell was inducted into the Dallas Metroplex Musician Association Hall of Fame, and in 2020 she was named Musician of the Year.  

Her commitment to the advancement and preservation of African American music can be seen through her membership with organizations such as Tau Beta Sigma Band Sorority, the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM), the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She has also been active in statewide groups such as the Texas Music Educators Association and Texas Choral Directors Association. 

Through these connections, Donnell has created opportunities for her students to perform and compete nationally. This July, they attended  the NAMN conference in Detroit, where the students performed in competitions and workshops. Last year, they attended the conference in Los Angeles.  

“I like to expose my students to different states and cultures,” she said. “One of my early teachers did that for me when I was growing up in South Dallas.” 

Each summer, she serves as Master Music Teacher for the Summer Arts Institute at the Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL). In partnership with Dallas ISD, this program trains students 10 to 18 years old in all aspects of performance, from costume design and stage management to music and acting, culminating in a final production. 

Through her decades of teaching, Donnell has helped develop the talents of many Dallas students who have gone on to professional opportunities and careers in music education.  

“I believe that we should be pouring money into the arts. This is how we can help students reach their fullest potential,” she said. “The arts is a place where you can be expressive and creative. It is an outlet and a universal language that must continue to be shared.”